We Tracked the Notorious Komodo Dragon and Survived!
28 August 2017
Tom
We knew this time was coming and with a combination of trepidation and excitement we headed off to face the infamous Komodo Dragon. We had arranged a speed boat to take us and five friends deep into Komodo territory. We were ready to meet them face to face.
After a half hour ride, dodging multiple reefs, we arrived at Rinca Island, one of the homes of the Komodo Dragons in Komodo National Park. After registering with the park rangers and being assigned two guides we were ready to go. I should note that the guides were heavily armed, each carrying a forked stick!
On heading for the trail to track the dragons we notified something strange. There were two or three dragons wandering around the grounds and just outside the office. Regardless we were in a trek and this wasn't going to stop us. Our guides took us to a special place where 5 or 6 dragons were basking in the sun and at the same time eyeing us with what seemed like dinner plans. We were careful to keep on of the guides (remember the heavily armed guides) between us and the pack of dragons. We then headed out to see the dragon nesting grounds and two females laying on their eggs. The hole they dig for the eggs is about one meter by two meters and a meter deep. Sizable hole but these are big creatures. The trek was continued to a vantage point to look over the bay (photo-op) and then back to the dock to head out to a few snorkeling sites before being dropped off at our boats. A very full but spectacular day.
Oh did I mention there were monkeys and a few deer and the snorkeling was fantastic?